same nature. It shows him still struggling to pre-
serve the original privileges of the colonists, and
solicitous for lenient measures towards them, when
they acted under mistaken views of the conduct of
their protectors. —
It appears, from the Reports of the colony pub-
lished in March 1814*, that an unpleasant misun-
derstanding had taken place respecting the militia
law, and that, in consequence, many of the Maroons
had withdrawn themselves from the settlement.
6. S. to (he Right Hon. General Maxwell, Governor
of Sierra Leotie.
*\ Right Hon. Sir, '^ Garden Court, Temple, Dec. 22, 1812.
** Having been the first proposer of forming the set-
tlement at Sierra Leone, and having also been, for many
years, one of the Directors of the Sierra Leone Company,
I think it my peculiar duty to represent to you the probable
cause of that dbcontentment which has lately been mani-
fested by the Maroons at Sierra Leone, under your
* Eighth Report of the Directors of the African lastitntton.
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12.] SI£I<RA LEONE. 181
government. Bat, in the first place, it is necessary for
me to inform yon, that the merit of the Maroons, in their
zealous and effectual defence of that new colony, when
it was attacked by a numerous body of the neighbouring
African chiefs, ought never to be forgotten. The Ma-
roons have always been remarkably industrious in the
cultivation of their lots of land, much more than any
of the other settlers ; and, therefore, when they are with-
drawn from their profitable labours, to be drilled under
martial law, instead of the only true constitutional means
of defence, the English frank-pledge, which in the books
of our Common Law is entitled * the chief and greatest
security ' (summa et maxima securiias), and in which the
householders elect all the officers (except the Governor
and chief magistrateii) who command them (without the
King*B commission,) — a glorious privilege, which was
absolutely promised to them by the Directors of the
Sierra Leone Company — so unhappy a deprivation of it
must necessarily occasion much discontent among them.
The Sierra Leone Company, indeed, have since resigned
their management of the colony to his Majesty's Govern-
ment ; but as die English frank-pledge is the essential
branch of the English Constitution declared by Magna
Charta, which all th^ Kings of Great Britain are by oath
at their coronation bound to maintain, it is not easy to
conceive that there can be any real intention to deprive
the King's subjects in Sierra Leone of that most essential
privilege, which was promised, and really established
there by the Company.
** The Act of Parliament by which the Sierra Leone
Company was incorporated (viz. 31 Geo. III.), a copy of
which I send herewith, very prudentiy limited the esta-
blishment of the frank-pledge, so that it cannot interfere
w\fh the supreme government of the colony.
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182 MEMOIRS OF GRANVILLE SHARP, [III.
" The Directors of the Company were empowered * to
make laws foe the government of the colony/ (p. 8), and
' to appoint a Governor and Council/ (ibid.) ; and ' that the
Governor and Council may make laws, which shall have
effect until disallowed by the Directors '-—viz. ' laws not
repugnant to the laws and statutes of this realm/ (p. 9) ;
— ' that a Mayor and three Aldermen should be incor-
porated by the name of the Mayor and Aldermen of
Freetown/ (ibid.) ; — * that the Governor and Council be
Justices of the Peace, and hold Quarter Sessions, and be
a Court of Record/ (p. 30.)
** All these laws and privileges were fully established in
the colony ; and a short sketch of temporary Regulations
was drawn up by myself, as being one of the Directors of
the Company : and several printed copies of it were sent
to the Governor and Coancil of the colony, to be placed
in the public library ; a copy of which is also sent here^
with. (See No. 3-)
'' 1 am impressed with a most sinc^r^jr^t^pect for ^^^
yourself. Right Hon. Sir, for y^Wloif^o<i9te|,^afcdf^«
most excellent conduct, as Goremor of 8iei&qJCjeon4^ ia %^ ^
defending the rights of poor ^injured 'JLfriaj|lis ; ah^ alki,^* J.
with sincere esteem, .^^* j - '^^
" RiAt Hon. Sir," &c. &c. ' ^' .
• <*
It is satisfactory to add, ^t, by the li^neyolent
exertions of Governor Maxn^, these deluded men
were induced to return to the settlement^ and
regained possession of their property.
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MEMOIRS
OP
GRANVILLE SHARP.
PART IV. ,
Abolition of the Slave Trade.
MR. sharp's means OF EXPENDITURE — VARIOUS TRUSTS
— CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE MEMBERS OF THE
FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.
SOCIETY FOR THE ABOUTION OF THE SLATE TRADE —
ITS PROGRESS— MR. WILBBRFORCB SUPPORTS THE
CAUSE IN PARLIAMENT — BILL BROUGHT IN BY
MR. FOX AND LORD GRENVILLE.
MR. sharp's CONDUCT AS CHAIRMAN OF THE SOCIETY —
ANECDOTES OF MR. PITT RELATIVE TO THE ABOLITION
OF THE SLAVE TRADE.
RBUGIOUS SOCIETIES — AFRICAN INSTITUTION — PRO-
TESTANT UNION.
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PART IV.
CHAP. I.
In the arduous attempt to found the colony of
Sierra Leone, if we compare the great expenses,
necessarily incurred, with the slender fortune of the
Founder, it seems difficult to account for the means
by which be was so long enabled to prosecute his
benevolent enterprise. Besides the heavy charges
defrayed by the Government at his solicitation, he, on
various occasions, advanced considerable sums, far
exceeding his income, and it is not immediately
evident from what sources he drew his supplies.
The profits acquired in his situation at the Ordnance
must long before have been expended. In 1780 be
received a small increase of wealth by a legacy from
a relation*. In 1783, on the death of his beloved
* iKS.— ' 1780. Mn. Prowse (formeriy Elisabeth Sharp), the
* eldest daughter of my uncle John Sharp, died this summer at
' Berkley in Somersetshire, and left me five hundred and fifty
* pounds, naming me also, at the end of a long entail, for
' estates in Northamptonshire and in Lincolnshire/
f;
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#
186 MEMOIRS OF GRANVILLE SHARP. [IV.
brother James, ^ widow having been left with tlie
care of a business of large extent, wholly out of the
province of female attention, he undertook the entire
management of it, and, for that purpose, left his
brother William's house in the Old Jewry (which
had dll then been his home), and became an inmate
with his sister-in-law in Leadenhall Street, where
the business was then carried on. He conducted
this new department with his accustomed good sense
and diligence, for more than six years, until the
whole concern was finally arranged and closed, and
the widow was at liberty to retire into the country.
During the term of his management he received a
liberal stipend from the business.
But as neither of these circumstances brought
him an accession of property at all adequate to the
expenses of the plans in which he engaged, may it,
then, be imagined that so virtuous a man found
others of congenial character, by whose assistance
(concealed at their request) he was provided w^^
means to carry on hb designs ? — Something of this
nature has beea seen in bis letters *.
From the liberal friendship pf his family he. de-
rived a further power of opqasipnal exertions. The
generous tender of a constant provision in the houses
of his brothers, William and James, has before been
mentioned. An annual sum was at first placed at
his disposal, and to this act of kindness they soon
* To Dr. Lettsom. Account of the Colony at Sierra Leone,
* videiuprap p. 9J.
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1.] PEIVATE FOETUKE. 187
cifterwards added the refined attration of making
over to him, from their own funds, a fixed sum in
capital, instead of incomei in order to preclude any
feelings of conditional dependence on their bounty.
I This capital could be employed in aid of his plans ;
and there is reason to believe, from what he says of
the diminution of his private fortune, that he devoted
a large part of it to the exigencies of his under*
taking*.
In 1787, just at the commencement of the Sierra
Leone enterprise, an additional source of means
came unexpectedly into his hands.
O. S. to Dr. John Sharp.
" Dear Brother, " 8i»t October, its?.
*' As every tbing that nearly concerns me is equally
interesting to all my dear brothers and sisters, I ought
sooner to have informed you of a small addition to my
^^'^ income, by the wiQ of my late worthy fiiend Mrs. Ogle-*
*[ ^itf/k^ thorpe, who died last Friday at her seat at Cranbam Hall,
-; in Essex. I am appointed one of her execators, and am
^ yjj^ also joined in two separate trusts ; so that a great deal of
St *'*■•
fL v' * In the first planning of the colony at Sierra Leone» it does
^« " not appear that ady large expenie was contemplated^ beyond
i ^ , ? the aid which Government had consented to give. The follow-
V log is an extract from a letter from Mr. Shi^p to his brother
at Durham, in June 1786 :— -
^ ** I enclose an account of the intended settlement in Africa.
^^ I have promised to give twenty-five pounds towards jMocuring
^ land. About fifty pounds, it seems, are wanted* Govern-
ment will be at the expense of sending and fitting out the
Settlers, If the Trustees of Bamburgh would give another
tweoty-five pounds, they would do a great act of charity.*'
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188 MEMOIRS OF GRANVILLE SHARP. [IV.
my leisure most necessarHy be taken vp ; bnt, in recom-
pence^ she has left me the Manor of Fairsted in Essex,
wUh a recammendatian to seitU it in my life-time to
charitable uses after my death, leaving the appropriation
to my own direction and choice *• I shall be very anxious
to have the best advice, and most mature consideration,
how I may most advantageously dispose of this little estate
for public charity after my death.''
That the income derived from this bequest was
employed on the African settlement is an obvious
conclusion. — These were his whole resources. Re-
gularity, economy, and parsimonious self-denial,
must have supplied the rest
The legacy of Fairsted brought with it a new
duty, and, of course, presented a new scope of action
to Mr. Sharp's beneficence. After settling the
several charges on the estate, he directed his atten-
tion to the ultimate views of the testatrix, and
reduced to method a design which, he informs his
brother, he had ^^ long had in idea, of promoting
a General Asylum in London, as a means of uniting
more effectually and usefully some of the established
charities."
* The estate was left by Mrs. Oglethorpe to Granville
Sharp, Esq., his heirs and assigns, for ever; with a rectnn'^
wwndation to Atm to settk it dtuing his Hfe-time to the benefit of
some ehatitahle establishment after his decease; and at the same
time expresify etgotming him to reserve the possession and projits
of the estate to himse^daring his Hfe.
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].] PLAN FOR A GENERAL ASYLUM. 189
** The London Workkoiue was intended for Mmetbing
of this kind by Bishop Ridley; but the plan failed for
want of proper regalations, thoagh the City has still power
to raise contributions for it from all the London parishes.
Here, then, most be the foundation of my offer to the
City, as a nest-egg for more charity •" — Letter to Dr. X
Sharp *•
His next care was to print his planf, and to
submit it to the inspection of his friends, as appears
from a letter to Dr. Barrington, Bishop of Salis-
bury : —
"My Lord, « JUt Msy, nso,
*' The advocates for slavery have said much of the
superior hardships of our own poor at home ; and as I have
not been less anxious to promote their welfare than that
of the poor Negroes, I beg leave to submit to your Lord-
ship's correction the enclosed plan for a General Asylum ;
* " Bishop Ridley^s intentions for Bridewell also,** adds
Mr. Sharp, ** are by no means effectaal for the desired good,
throngh want of further regahttions. The poor wretches are
confined, whipped, and then turned loose more wicked than
they were when they went in, for want of separate confinement^
and for want of encouragement to work.
'' The plan of a General Asylum may be a means of correct-
ing both these charities, and may therefore justly demand a
considerable aid from both."
t ''Soon after I received the above-mentioned trust, I
printed a plan for a public charity in the nature of a General
Asylum for t^e poor, in separate classes, proposed to be under
the management of the City Magistrates, assisted by an united
Committee of Governors, to be elected by the Governors of all
the Royal Hospitals, without interfering with their respective
establishments."— letter to the Committee of the Corporatim of
LomUm. See Appendix, No. XXX .
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190 MEMOIRS OF GRANVILLE SHARP. [IV.
and I request your consideratioii and advice upon it, because
I am very anxious to promote to the best advantage the
trust that is put upon me" &c. &c.
The plan, however, did not proceed with quick-
ness proportionate to lys zeal. The occupation of
his thoughts on the perilous concerns of his Sierra
Leone colony, probably precluded any very eflFective
attention on his part to other objects. It is not till
the close of his individual exertions in support of
that undertaking, that his customary activity appears
in the further search for some charitable establish*
raent, on which he might settle the contingent
benefits of the Fairsted estate.
In maturing his plan, his principal attention was
directed to a point in which the defect of our police
has long been a subject of just regret.
G. S. to Dr. John Sharp.
** 14th September, 1790.
** I am endeaTouring to bring forward, as fast as I can,
the plan of a public charity, but more especiallj one
branch of it, the asylum for thefemales^ to be employed
in spinning linen and woollen thread and yam in the
London Workhouse, where there is a noble building ready
and fit for the purpose, and where there are, at present,
only about thirty children, though it is capable of accom-
modating four or five hundred."
Agreeably to these intentions, his first especial
oflfer was made, not long afterwards, to the Cor-
poration of London.
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1.] PLANS FOR PUBLIC CHARITIES. 191
In 1791 he addressed a lettei^^ dated April 18, to
the Committee appointed to inquire into the state of
the London Workhouse ; in which, after expressing
his conviction " that the Corporation for the Poor
of London were already invested with ample powers
to fulfil all the principal ob|itcts which he had in
view in his plan for a General Asylum/' he sub-
mitted to them a proposal for a reform of the London
Workhouse, in order to the more effectually " pro-
tecting, instructing, and employing the poor in that
establishment/^ To this plan he subjoined an offor
of the first reversion of the manor of Fairsted, and
such conditions of the gift as he thought most con-
ducive to the success of his designs. On the day
following he received a deputation from the Com-
mittee, to consult with him respecting the general
purposes of their appointment ; and in the beginning
pf the following year he writes thus to the Marquis
of Lansdown : —
" My Lord, " Jwmwy 89, 17M.
** I take the liberty to send your Lordship the account
of another charitable plan, the proposed reformation of
the London Worhhome^ which the Common Council have
now adopted, and have gammoned me to meet their Com-
mittee next week, in order to consult on the means of
carrying it into execution.''
The meeting, however, ended unfavourably to his
wishes •
* In the meetittg here mentioned, I ha?e been informed bj
a Member of the Committee, still living, that Mr. Sharp was
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192 MEMOIRS OF GRANVILLE SHARP. [IV.
He ^oes not appear, at the commencement of
this tranQaction, to have been folly aware of the legal
impediment which the testatrix had raised to the
completion of her own intentionSi by the particular
conditions annexed to her bequest
The further account of his efforts to discharge. his
trust shall be related by himself.
O. S. to the Right Rev. Lard Bishop of London, Pre-
sident of the Society for the Conversion and RsUgious
Instruction and Education of Negro Slaves in the West
India Islands.
** My Lordf ^ Utii Janoary, 1795.
** I have lately been informed that your Lordship has
obtained a Charter for the establishment of a Society to
promote the instraction of Negro Slaves in the British
Colonies, and that a foundation is thereby laid for forming
a most respectable body of trustees, whereof your Lord-
ship, as Bishop of London, is the President, with full
anxious that the proposed Regulations, which had received
the assent of the Corporation of London, should take place
without delay; and he proposed, that, until the manor and
estate of Fairsted should become the property of the Cor«
poration, they should appropriate aa annual sum, such as they
should judge proper, to the purposes of the charity, in order, as
he stated, " to set an example to other public bodies, city
companies, and individuals,^ &c. But the Corporation did not
deem it prudent to incur such an expense, until they should
be actually put in possession of the intended gift, either by
Mr, Sharp's decease, or by his transfer of the estate to them
during his life-time. The subject, therefore, was wholly
dropped.
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I.] MANOR OF FAiRSTED. 193
pow«iB to aooept the revernons of lands, to be appro-
priated, after the death of the donors, to that charitable
purpose, noiwiihstandmy tJu existimg laws agaimi mori-
main.
[''The Bishops of London, having for aisiiy years
been charged with the spiiitoal concerns of all the Biitifih
colonies, nust frequently have been impressed with anxious
concern for the unhappy case of myriads of poor Heathens*
held in hopeless ignorance and slavery, within the .bounds
of their jurisdictions ; and, of course, must have lamented
the want of proper means to provide for the religious in**
atruction of these poor oppressed people, as well a^ their
own want of due influence, at so great a distance, to urge
and promote it. And some even worthy predecessors of
your Lordship may (through the misrepresentations of
mercenary colonists, and other interested parsons con*
nected with them« respecting the care and attention of the
masters toward their poor Heathen labourers) have pro-
bably been induced to consider the Slave Trade, and
shivery; rather as the means of introducing poor Heathens
to the knowledge of the Gospel under Christian masters,
than as illegal oppressions, which the odious tenns Slao€
Trade and Slavery imply, and, through this vain pretence
of the colonists, have been deluded to think more favour-
aUy than they ought of our naiionai deSmqueney in tole*
rating slavery* But the contrary effect has been notorious :
instead of instructing their slaves to become Christians,
the masters themselves, by illegal trust of an unlimited
dominioa over their poor brethren, have generally acquired
all the vicious depravities of the worst of Heathens ; and
the almost total neglect of religious instructions to their
slaves is sufficiently known. Of late, indeed, some few
itberant Moravians, and also well-meaniog enthusiasts,
have laboured to instruct the poor Heathen strangers, and
VOL, ir. o
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194 MEMOIRS OF GRANVILLE SHARP. [IV.
with astonishiogr success ; bat not at the expense of the
mast^B^ as it ought to have been ; for these poor itinerant
misaionaries are chiefly supported by subscriptions in
England, which I have endeavoured to promote.]
*' Your Lordship's attention [therefore] to the charitable
work of instructing the slares in our colonies, is parti-
cularly seasonable at this time, and perfectly accords with
the sacred duties of your high and important episcopal
chai^. And I sincerely hope that this worthy design may
be liberally promoted by the affluent, and by all persons
that can afford to contribute.
*' ^s to myself, I have very little to spare at present,
but I have considerable to offer in reversion for futurity ;
which I mention with the less reserve, because I do not
consider my present intentions as my own charity, but only
OS a continuation of my unremitted efforts to fufil a trust
devolved upon me by a worthy deceased friend, who
gave me an estate, to be bestowed after my decease tm
$ome public duuiiy^ leaving me entirely at liberty in the
choice of the charity. I speak of the estate and manor
of Fairsted in Essex ; the reversion of which I offered
some time ago to the City of London, in trust, for the
encouragement of voluntary labourers at the London
Workhouse^ that a due distinction might be made between
industrious people, when they cannot obtain employment,
and the idle and vagrant poor, who are the proper objects
for Bridewell Hospital ; but, more especially, I insisted
on the protection and employment of honest and indus-
trious females* (women servants out of place, and poor
'' * I mention more particularly these endeavours in behalf
of honest and industrious females, because I consider their pro-
tection as a very important charity, and wish to recommend it
to your Lordship as a secondary object for the apprbpriatioa
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L] employment of femalks. 195
giris), who seek an honest employment, to learn the art
of spinniog wool, if not already tau^t ; and to be en*
eonraged in their diligence by whatever profits may arise
from their laboar, beyond their estimated proportion of the
general charge of maintenance and house-expense. The
Court of Aldermen and Conmi(Hi. Council. ordered my
letter to be printed and sent to alPlhe members of that
coort, that the terms might be considered ; but some diffi-
culties were apprehended, chiefly* I believe, respecting
the Mortmain Acts, which prevented the acceptance of
them. a^
['' I next turned my thoughts to some new regula*
tiotts for the better employment and improvement of the
unhi^y females at MridmoeU Hospital*. S|jipninr has
been since introduced, and several other improvements,
but an asylum for honest and industrious females cannot,
with propriety, be annexed to that charity.]
. *' I do not at present know of any other established
public charity more worthy my attention, than that which
your Lordship has proposed for the instruction of Negro
Slaves in the colonies; and I am, therefore, willing to
present to your Lordship^ and the other Trustees for that
Charity, by a proper deed of gift, the next reversion of my
whole estate and manor of Fairsted, containing about
three hundred and fifty-eight acres of valuable freehold
land of my own, besides a considerable extent of freehold
and copyhold lands, held by the manorial tenants, on the
payment of several small quit-rents and occasional fines, of
of the revenues of your Lordsbip*s trust, in case the primary
object should cease by a general enfranchisement of slaves,
which there is ample reason to expect.*' — Note to Letter,
* Mr. Sharp was elected a Governor of Bridewell and
Bethlem Hospitals, on dOth Nov. 17M.
O 2
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196 MEMOIRS Of GRANVILLE SHARP. [IV.
m
the Manor of Fainted ; tiro maU charges only remainiag
on the estate. But I wish to create a small ad^tional
charge^ to provide for the instmctioD of the poor cUklreo
in the parish of Fairiied itself, in reading, wcnrkiiig, and
spinning, as a mere matter of justice to the poor lahonrers
of the soil from whence the revenue arises; for it woidd
seem a gross partiaiily to send away, die whole reyenne
^ of the little district for the instraetion of finreigtMn,
excluding the poor natives of the manor fimn the saoM
advantages: and therefore I hope that this additional
charge, being under the same trust lb that for the instmc*
tion of Negro Slaves, may fairly be considered rather as a
reasonable and allowable part of the ordiaaiy eespenses
^ of the estate, than as a dbtinct charity. I wish also to
reserve, under the same trust, about fourteen acres of
land, to be distributed or let, from time to time, in small
portions among the poor cottagers of the parish, for
gardens or potatoe-grounda, under porticorar regulations,
which I have to propose, while they hold no other land ;
for without such small portions of land, mere labourers in
agriculture can scarcely subsists since they have been